Book Shambles

This week Philippa Perry joins Robin as co-host and they chat with writer and performer Rebecca Peyton. They talk about the process of working with editors, psychotherapy, the joy of a good sad book and the work of Joseph Heller, Min Jin Lee, Joseph Conrad and more. Support the podcast at patreon.com/bookshambles to get extended editions of each and every episode.

This week's episode is a comics special as Robin is joined in studio by our resident comics expert, comedian Nat Metcalfe and Tom Oldham of Breakdown Press. They chat about Douglas Dixon, Ken Reid, Lando and why too many comics these days are starting to read like storyboards for a future Netflix series. As always there's an extended version for Patreon pledgers and this week features and extra 15 minutes. Support us at patreon.com/bookshambles

For pretty much as long as we've been producing Book Shambles, Josie has been recommending everyone read the Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante. She even had the first book on her cape in Cosmic Superheroes. So with the My Beautiful Friend series just coming out we thought we should do a Ferrante special with Josie and two other mega fans. So joined by Sara Pascoe and Tania Edwards, they dig into her work and many other tangents. Fair warning though, spoilers abound. Support the CSN at patreon.com/bookshambles and get extended episodes of Book Shambles. Over 20 minutes extra in this week's episode!

A triple podcast crossover this week as Vitriola's Michael Legge subs in for Josie Long and our guest is The Allusionist's Helen Zaltzman in the studio with Robin. They chat about favourite showbiz memoirs and diaries, Scientology books and the time Iggy Pop stage dived at an eleven year old and landed on his face. Extended edition for Patreon supporters as always. Become one at patreon.com/bookshambles

Geneticist, author and broadcaster Dr Adam Rutherford joins Robin and Josie in the studio this week to talk about many things including his latest book, The Book of Humans. They chat about the peril of writing books that will go out of date, bad misuses of genetics, who was racist even by Victorian standards and Adam tries to remember the difference between The Odyssey and The Iliad. Extended version available exclusively to our Patreon supporters. Become one at patreon.com/bookshambles

We lots of specials and time specific episodes towards the end of 2018, so we've yet to put out the final episode we recorded live at the Edinburgh Fringe, so here it is! Robin is joined by comedian and author Mark Watson and the new writing team Ambrose Parry, comprised of crime writer Christopher Brookmyre and anaesthetist Dr Marisa Haetzman. They chat about the differences between writing crime and historical fiction, stand up and novels and the best way to seek revenge against high school bullies in your books. Support the show at patreon.com/bookshambles and get extended editions of each episode

Robin and Josie have both been guests on RHLSTP so we thought it high time that we had Richard Herring on Book Shambles. He joins us in the studio to chat about favourite early comedy books from the likes of Monty Python and Not the Nine O'Clock News and then they try to work out how the Amazon book charts work as Robin and Rich's latest books battle it out on the 'Jokes and Riddles' charts. To hear an extended version of this, and almost every other episode too, you can become a patreon supporter of the show at patreon.com/bookshambles

It's part two of our multi guest end of year special where we chat to all sorts of performers from our Christmas shows about the best things they read this year. In this all-star special there's recommendations from Robin Ince, Josie Long, Brian Cox, the Octavia Poetry Collective, Ben Moor, Chris Lintott, Suzi Gage, Suzie Imber, Hannah Fry, Grace Petrie, Matt Parker, Chris Stokes, Dr Karl, Helen Czerski, Kat Arney, Ronnie Le Drew and Melinda Burton! Support the show at the network at patreon.com/bookshambles

Each year we catch up with as many different people as we can at our Christmas shows to talk to them about their books of the year and this year is no different. In Part 1 we chat with Robin Ince, Alan Moore, Melinda Gebbie, Sophie Scott, Jo Neary, Ginny Smith, Dean Burnett, Gecko, Hannah Critchlow and Philip Ball. Loads more to come next week too. Thanks for listening in 2018. Big plans for 2019. Support us at patreon.com/bookshambles

Robin AND Josie are back in the studio together for a brand new batch of Book Shambles episodes. The first guest is Ariane Sherine, author of the new book Talk Yourself Better. They chat about her new book, and the experiences that led to it, plus look at Twitter, PD James, Lyne Reid, Tank Girl and much more. Support the show on Patreon (patreon.com/bookshambles) to hear extended episodes of the show each week. NB - This episode contains a discussion about abuse